POE at a (not) busy land border

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Ivy Lea is just east of Gananoque, Ontario - about 35/40 minutes drive east of Kingston on Highway 2. You would head south towards Syracuse, NY.

We drove down with 6 cats in the car - didn't have Feliway but would use it definitely now - taking regular breaks every 4 hours for about 10 minutes helped them. We let one by one out of the carriers to use the litter box (they did) and stretch their legs. We definitely didn't open the doors or windows of our vehicle unless all cats were safely in their carriers. We also brought extra straps so we could tie down the carriers to the seat belts so they didn't shift or move during the drive.

Edited November 8, 2009 by Kathryn41

[antda 13]

But, strategically going before a shift change *could* mean that they push it through so that they don't leave it to the next person... like, maybe an hour before shift change? Just a wild thought.

Not sure what time I'll go. It'll take basically 2 hrs to get to whatever POE I go to. Last time I did a POE with cats I went waay early to cross the border before sunrise. Not sure I can do that this time.

Borders are open 24/7, holidays, weekends, weekdays, and all! (or at least that is what I know from border crossings)...So you can cross at any time...

Heck I even crossed at 3am once at the peace bridge....no problems there...in and out in less than a minute

(though I was too drowsy and too pregnant to recall much at the time....I fell asleep in the front seat, and a minute later...my husband took care of that while I was asleep and before I knew it, he just said that we crossed over back to the USA..and I was like..ok..whatever..and went back to sleeping while the baby was kicking inside..lol..that's another story.....)

Though with a visa activation....you might want to go at a time where there is someone there who is able to process such correctly...

So maybe should go after sunrise for that....

As for the shift change strategy...good idea...do it before the next person arrives...

However, if they are in a bad mood or something..they might not want to process you, and indeed..hand it off to the next person and delay you (like in poprock's case, mentioned above)...

So the bottom line: Cross at a time that is most convenient for you, bearing in mind your circumstances and whatever else too...

Hope this helps too. Happy travels.

Ant

Edited November 9, 2009 by Ant+D+A

[Colleens 40]

I have read reviews about the Alexandria Bay POE (Ivy Lea) on visa journey. I can't rememeber the exact location on the site, but you can look at everyones reviews. From what I have read that most went quite smoothly. I have done all my border crossings at this location and I have never had any sort of issue, other than them asking to look in my trunk and that lasted about 5 seconds!!! I have driven from Ottawa to Syracuse several times during the winter months, and have always found the roads to be in very good shape. There was lots of snow, but the roads were clear. I have also driven in the snow, and just needed to slow down a little and all was good. One thing to be very careful of when taking that drive is watching for wild life. I have seen numerous animals, especially deer, crossing in that area.

Good Luck.

[R&N 0]

I crossed at the Queenston-Lewiston POE and i didnt have any issues. I waited a while at the border as it was midday on a long weekend but it was very straight forward and i think they asked me like 2 questions. I just accepted that a big part of this visa journey is to learn to wait.

Good luck

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I crossed at the Peace Bridge at 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday and it was just about perfect. If you go around 4 or 5 there might not be anyone there, but the chances of you finding a good group of knowledgeable people on how to process visas is questionable. At 6:30 there was 1 car in front of me and 1 person in front of me in secondary. I would really recommend the Peace Bridge, I always cross there and never had any problems. The person who processed my K-1 actually seemed like he knew what he was doing (with the help of a manual of course ) but it wasn't his first time and he wasn't completely lost. The snow is always a concern but for what its worth, they are pretty good at keeping the QEW Fort Erie clear during snow events since it is such a major route. Buffalo? Its not always the best.

Congrats on the approval again KnJ! You crossing soon?

[KnJ 0]

Congrats on the approval again KnJ! You crossing soon?

thanks, HB

I'm crossing AS SOON AS is humanly possible. I get visa on Thursday, I leave Friday. Or as soon as I can.

I already checked that my cat food is OK to cross, and am continuing to pare down my stuff. I'll still be taking too much.

Today is vehicle compliance, health insurance, cargo container, address changes (and teach a couple classes)... and more. But that's for another topic.

[MapleLeafBaby 1]

It has less to do with 'where' vs. 'when'. If you cross at 4am or even before 5am.... you will be the only person in there...literally....with no vehicle line up or secondary.... my delays were based on 'lack of knowledge' on their part.

And do not go when shifts are changing over....they get lazy and will make you wait till shift change lol... like if you show up at 7:30am...they change over at 8am at Lewiston....they made us wait till 8:30 for the new crew to deal with us lol....

This is really helpful. Shift change. Didn't think of that.

I might stay at a friend's and do the trip in two legs. I ideally want to head out Really D&mn Early, but who knows.

I find that a lot of the busier boarders get a lot of truck traffic after 5-6am... I personally love to do most of my driving at night....it breaks up the drive and makes it go faster....

[redmen99 1]

Hubby and I cross at Thousand Islands on a regular basis. Never had a real issue at the border except for the time that I said I was flying out on a certain date, weather permitting and they called me into secondary because I didn't have a copy of my flight info for going home. WHOOPS!

If you stay on 81 you can hop on the 90 right before Syracuse with no major issues and save yourself some cash on tolls from the 90. There is a toll bridge before you hit the border this is like $2.50 to cross. There is a mid-sized area from the Watertown are down to around the Mexico area that if a storm comes along or some lake effect snow makes that stretch of road a bit scary to drive. I've done it a few times and have never saw my knuckles so white, but my car is horrible in snow. (I crashed it twice in snow storms, once hitting two guardrails on a highway in PA and the other time landing in a ditch on the 401 near Brighton so I get scared driving in snow sometimes...)

I'm pretty sure the hubby will cross at Thousand Islands when he gets his visa simply for the fact that there is hardly ever a line at the border, unless its a holiday, and if he goes that way, he won't have to drive through Toronto and all the construction through the St. Kitts area.

Good luck and let us know where you cross and how it goes!